Pauper

magicthegathering.com StaffFriday, December 21, 2012

n increasingly popular Constructed format on Magic Online is Pauper. Because it consists of relatively plentiful commons, the barrier to entry is fairly low. But that doesn't mean the power level of the format is!

Deck Construction Rules

Only cards that have been printed as commons in a set released on Magic Online

Pauper follows all the usual deckbuilding guidelines for Constructed formats (at least sixty cards, no more than four copies of any card except basic lands, fifteen-card sideboard or no sideboard), but with one major limitation: every card must have been released on Magic Online as a common. As long as a card has been released in a set on Magic Online at the common rarity slot at least once, it's legal in the format.

Finding Commander on Magic Online Wide Beta

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Details and B&R List

Despite its restriction, Pauper can produce some seriously powerful decks—including ones that can win on turn two. Like most formats, Pauper has some dominant decks, but the dominant deck shifts over time, giving the format a fair amount of variance. That said, decks popular in other Constructed formats frequently find their common-filled equivalents in Pauper: Storm, Delver, Infect, and various control decks have all dominated Pauper at one point in the past year.